Biography

Early career

In 1990, Andriy Danylko started to create the character Verka Serduchka, a flamboyant middle aged woman and train conductor. At a humor contest in Poltava on 4 January 1991, he presented Verka Serduchka publicly for the first time. He invented the character's name by combining the randomly picked first name Verka and the real last name of a former school classmate, Anya Serduk.[1][2] Apart from pop and dance numbers, Danylko has also appeared under his real name, performing ambient musical compositions. His popularity, however, is firmly established on the stage personality of Verka Serduchka and most of his performances are done under this stage name.

Following Verka Serduchka, Andriy Danylko created other characters, such as a policeman, a soldier and a female ballet dancer. In such a fashion, the Danilko Theater was established, touring the cities of Russia and Ukraine. In 2002, Andriy Danylko, along with his group, toured in the CIS and Baltic countries, showing the program “I am a Revolution” for the whole year. The next year, soon after the Danylko Theater’s concert tour “I Was Born for Love,” Andriy Danylko received the title of Honored Artist of Ukraine.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s he hosted a talk show called "SV-show" ("SV" is an abbreviation for Russian: Спальный Вагон, "Spalniy Vagon", which means sleeping car) on various Ukrainian television channels.[3]

Eurovision Song Contest 2007

Verka Serduchka with his ensemble in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.

The participation of Andriy Danylko in Eurovision was not without controversy in Ukraine. One of the nationwide FM radio stations organized a protest action in February 2007 to express their disapproval with the selection of Serduchka to represent the country [5]. Some Ukrainians and even members of the Ukrainian Parliament expressed their disapproval with Serduchka's participation in the contest, which they saw as "grotesque and vulgar."[6][7]

The single for Dancing Lasha Tumbai reached #6 in the French charts and went on to be #28 on The Official UK Singles Chart on 20 May 2007. This was the first time a non-UK non-winning Eurovision entry charted in the UK since 1974.

Danylko then made a brief phone-in appearance on the BBCsThe Graham Norton Show, in which his comments made no sense whatsoever. Another call was made, but with a translator in the audience, who told guest Andrew Lloyd Webber he was "rubbish". However, in an interview with Andrew Williams in the 60 Seconds column of metro.co.uk (30 July 2007), Danylko clarified his meaning:

AW: Why did you call Andrew Lloyd Webber ‘rubbish’ on The Graham Norton Show? AD: Someone interpreted Serduchka wrongly. I meant I watched Cats the musical on TV. It was boring. You should watch a musical on the stage. Don’t watch Cats on TV.[10]

In the same interview, he admitted that "lasha tumbai" was a somewhat made-up phrase that sounds like the Mongolian phrase for "milkshake" and that many Russians nevertheless managed to interpret it as saying "Russia goodbye!", which caused somewhat of a controversy in Russia as well.

Personal life

Danylko is reluctant about discussing his private life, but he stated that he has lived with a woman for 8 years, though that it was a hard experience for him, and after the breakup he became more creative again.[11]

Political life

Danylko announced in 2007 that he would front a new political party, "For Ours!", to compete in that year's Ukrainian parliamentary election, but later abandoned the idea. A public opinion poll in July 2007 placed 'For Ours! Verka Serduchka' at 2% overall support. [12][13]